Dart 15 Forums

Mike McDonald wrote:

The bottom of my hulls are now wafer thin after many years of
sailing over rocks, up the beach, across the car park........
(after all, my sail number is 510 so my 15 is quite ancient).
How
do you effectively rebuild this sharp edge?
Also, my mast is a
one piece affair. Is the 2 piece conversion that is available
worthwhile investing in?

Thanks for any help.

Mike
McDonald
Dart 15 sail number 510

tim replied:

re two piece to one piece. I have an insert you can have for a
nominal fee, but are you really sure you want to take the
retrograde step of going to two piece?
the bend
characteristics of a one piece are far superior, you will find any
number of people willing to swop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

building
up skegs, ron sawford at sailingforall.com does a really good
service at reasonable money

George replied:

At Beaver the jury is out on 2 vs 1 piece masts. The theory is
that a 2-piece masts bends less in the middle (due to the extra
strength of the joint), allowing the sail to be fuller and develop
more power. However, the 1 piece mast is considerably lighter (you
can really feel the difference) and should be quicker in waves as
there is less pitching moment without the heavy joint. I must
admit I've never owned a boat with a 1-piece mast though..

Matthew Bliss replied:

About your hulls. The simple solution is to fit metal keel
bands over the skegs. This should toughen the bottom up. I know
somebody who has done this to his old 15 and it worked a treat.

tim replied:

Want to swop your one piece for my two piece?

Want me to recommend a good boatbuilder?